THE STOCK MARKET CRASH 76 years ago this week left Chicago with an identity crisis as well as an economic one. The proud, hard-working manufacturing center suddenly had to cope with going on the dole. AL CAPONE, with the feds closing in, was having a bit of a crisis himself, so Public Enemy No. 1 tried to recast his public image with a burst of well-publicized generosity. While the desperately poor couldn’t afford to be picky about a meal’s source, there were others who weren’t buying. At one Northwestern football game, students booed the mob boss out of Dyche Stadium.
– Hours worked per week by full-time manufacturing workers in 1900: 53. In 1934: 35. During World War II: 45.
– Number of people reportedly fed per day at Capone’s soup kitchens: 3,000.
– Chicago’s peak unemployment rate during the Depression: 40 PERCENT.
– Nickname that Capone preferred to Scarface: SNORKY. Why: SNORKY WAS A JAZZ-AGE TERM FOR “WELL-DRESSED.”
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“Public service is my motto.”
–AL CAPONE
Sources: Tribune archives; the Encyclopedia of Chicago; “The First Measured Century” by Theodore Caplow, Louis Hicks and Ben J. Wattenberg; “Capone” by John Kobler (Putnam, 1971); “The Outfit” by Gus Russo (Bloomsbury, 2001).
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nwatkins@tribune.com
